MLB.com Celebrates Fifth Anniversary of First Live Video Telecast Aug. 26

MLB.com to commemorate date with free access to New York Yankees - Detroit Tigers matchup on Sunday

08/23/2007, NEW YORK -- On August 26, 2002, MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball, offered fans the first live, full-game webcast of a Major League game, a Texas Rangers- New York Yankees matchup from Yankee Stadium. To commemorate that historic broadcast, MLB.com will offer a free live webcast of Sunday's series finale between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers.

"We are excited to celebrate this historic occasion for baseball fans by providing this broadcast featuring two storied franchises," said Dinn Mann, Executive Vice President, Content, Editor-in-Chief, MLB.com. "The first live broadcast was the foundation to offering fans the opportunity to watch games anywhere, anytime and on any device. We remain committed to our charter goal of expanding that reach to as many fans as possible and will build from that foundation by leveraging innovative and interactive multimedia platforms and continuing to foster meaningful partnerships."

The rematch of last year's American League Division Series will be available to fans residing outside of each team's local television market exclusively on MLB.com at 1:05 p.m. (EDT) on August 26, exactly five years to the date when MLB.com presented that initial historic broadcast.

Before an audience of more than 30,000 viewers, the Yankees recorded 19 hits to support the pitching of Orlando Hernandez in defeating the Rangers, 10-3. Current Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez homered for the Rangers. Players from both participating teams realized the innovative possibilities resulting from this inaugural event.

Former Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams commented to MLB.com at the time: "I think it's a great thing. Baseball is taking advantage of all that technology has to offer. We're not falling behind. Someone out there will watch it who wouldn't be able to watch it on TV, and that's a great thing. We're expanding as a sport, and that's what we should be doing."

Buoyed by the success of the Yankees-Rangers game, MLB.com made available its first subscription video product, a nine-game package of games featuring playoff contenders in September 2002. That was followed by a postseason package, including the World Series, which was available to users outside the U.S. and Japan. The product was formally named MLB.TV in 2003 as Major League Baseball became the first sports league to stream live games online for an entire schedule.

Since that first webcast in 2002, fans have accessed more than 1.2 billion streams of live and on-demand multimedia offerings on MLB.com, representing more than 50 million hours of participation. In 2007, MLB.com will stream nearly 12,000 live video events, including every MLB game as well as thousands of events for its various partners.

Source: MLB

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